Retrospective: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Patreon)

Avatar: Fire and Ash is James Cameron's first movie since Piranha 2: The Spawning to not break much new ground. As The Way of Water Part 2, Fire and Ash is bound to the innovations of that movie. This isn't a problem as such; after two groundbreaking VFX bonanzas, Fire and Ash only has so much room to innovate. And if you're watching Avatar 3, you probably saw 1 and 2 and know exactly what you're getting into.

What you're getting into, of course, is settler colonialist racism, Big Jim Cameron's nuclear family fetish, and about seven hours of VFX. It's hard to criticize Avatar at this point for being so at home with its fatal flaws (I'm inclined to, but it seems a bit futile these days). I'd like to see James Cameron do something else with his time (another deep sea documentary for me and me only, please), but in the meantime, a 3D 48 FPS extravaganza about blue people will do.

Fire and Ash largely works for what it is. If you want blue people, this has that in spades. It also has Oona Chaplin as an evil fire Na'vi domming Stephen Lang with psychedelics in one of the best scenes James Cameron has ever shot. Big Jim also gives us psychic alien whales and cool battles. If you can get past Jake excoriating Neytiri for her hatred of Pinkskins, you might just enjoy yourself for about 40-60% of this.